


Any Sign of You That Lingers

by WednesdaysDaughter



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Mama Stilinski Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-23
Updated: 2013-02-23
Packaged: 2017-12-03 09:36:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/696867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WednesdaysDaughter/pseuds/WednesdaysDaughter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"The kitchen smells like turkey and for a moment he’s transported to when he was eight and so eager to help his mother in the kitchen. He ended up spilling the peas on the floor and she laughed, admitting she never really liked them anyway. She was more of a corn person."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Any Sign of You That Lingers

**Author's Note:**

> Partly inspired by "Not Alone" by Patty Griffin and partly inspired by my need to cause myself emotional pain. I figured if I was meant to suffer Mama Stilinski feelings, so should you all.

Some nights she stands in the background of his dreams; another face in the crowded school halls where people speak French and drive ice cream trucks recklessly.

Those are the mornings when his eyes open slowly and his body tingles as if he stepped through an electric field and no matter how hard he tries, Stiles cannot fall back asleep. He doesn’t dream about her as often as he wants to, but he’s had time to get over it.

If his eyes dart from corner to corner of the familiar school halls, searching for her face even though he can understand the words flowing from person to person, he doesn’t feel much when she doesn’t show up. Stiles has grown accustomed to the empty spaces she left behind.

 - - - -

When he was six, Stiles held two boxes of cereal in his hands and tried to make – what was at the time – a very difficult decision.  

“I have an idea,” his mother said winking at her son who grinned in return.

That morning and many after, Stiles enjoyed a bowl of mixed cereal – Pops and Apple Jacks – while praising his mother’s intelligence with laughter and gestures that occasionally sent cereal flying across the room because he forgot he was holding a spoon.

He doesn’t mix cereals anymore, but on lazy Sunday mornings he’ll make her chocolate chip and banana pancakes on autopilot and sing “Here Comes the Sun” under his breath.

 - - - -

“She loved daisies,” he tells Derek once when they’re lying in bed. Derek’s legs are tangled with his and goose bumps race over his chest when Derek sighs softly.

Outside the clouds hide the sun like they did the day they put his mother in the ground.  There’s an itch under his skin that he can’t scratch: Stiles wants to get up and walk it off, but he’s tethered to Derek in more ways than one. It’s not just his skin that reaches out to meet the pair of lips that ghost over his neck.

“Lilies too.”

 - - - -

Stiles sees her once in a clearing behind the Hale house.

It’s not really her though.  A creature is wearing her face in hopes of weakening Stiles’ resolve to kill it; to send it to wherever monsters go to die. Maybe it wants to drag him down as well. Maybe it hopes the ache in Stiles’ chest that his mother left will lower his defenses just long enough for the creature to sink its claws into his flesh.

The pack thinks it has him; Stiles can hear them shouting his name as he walks towards the monster with his mother’s face. Derek’s not shouting as loud as the others though: Derek knows him better than that.

The creature grins in victory and it’s all wrong. Its eyes don’t crinkle the right way and its teeth are too sharp. The smile falters and then falls when Stiles raises the gun in his hand and fires. He doesn’t even flinch at the bang nor at the sound of the creature’s body falling to the ground.

He kills his mother a second time.

 - - - -

“Why would I put coconut milk in a cake? My mom hated coconut.”

The living room falls quiet and Stiles doesn’t really notice. He’s too busy reading the recipe he pulled out of a light blue box with her handwriting on it. The kitchen smells like turkey and for a moment he’s transported to when he was eight and so eager to help his mother in the kitchen. He ended up spilling the peas on the floor and she laughed, admitting she never really liked them anyway. She was more of a corn person.

Someone comes to stand behind Stiles and for a second he half expects it to be her, but he’s not disappointed when Derek presses a kiss into his shoulder.

“I don’t like coconut either.”

Stiles smiles and turns his head to thank Derek with a gentle kiss.

“She also hated eggplant.”

Stiles startles when he hears his dad’s voice, but Derek’s hands on his hips calm him. His dad doesn’t talk about her unless he’s had a few drinks and Stiles recognizes the gift he’s being presented with. Stiles looks past Derek to stare at his dad, who is standing in the doorway with a fond smile on his lips and faraway eyes.

“Well, clearly I got her taste buds because eggplants are evil.”

His dad cracks a smile and Derek huffs in amusement while Stiles informs the rest of the pack exactly why eggplants are evil due to their plot to take over the world.

He saw it in an episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog, so it must be true.

 - - - -

He tells her everything.

Stiles tells her about werewolves and kanimas and geriatric old men who beat him up to send a message. He makes sure to assure her that his dad is doing okay. He proudly tells her one sunny day that Isaac finally got the jump on Derek and that Scott took Boyd down without a fuss.

He’s a little nervous when he tells her he’s not in love with Lydia anymore, but instead he’s smitten with a grumpy alpha with a laundry list of issues.

“I think he’s allergic to colors though. All he wears is black and gray. He’s like a walking storm cloud that growls and has fangs.”

The wind ruffles the grass and the petals of the daisies he laid in front of her tombstone. It’s tranquil and Stiles feels like he fits in his skin as he traces the letters of her name with his fingers.

“I think you’d like him.”

The sun comes out from behind the clouds and shines brightly upon him: Warm like his mother’s embrace when he was young. Stiles takes it as affirmation.

 - - - -

“I wish I could have known her.”

It’s pack night and everyone’s huddled in Derek’s living room as the sounds of explosions and gunshots fill the air.

Derek spoke directly into Stiles’ ear and it makes him giggle a little from the sensation. Stiles doesn’t reply right away because he isn’t sure how to explain the feeling bubbling in his chest. In a way, Derek already knows her.

She’s in Stiles’ eyes and the way he smiles fully and without reservation. She lives in Stiles’ restless fingers after too many energy drinks and she breathes comfortably when Stiles is surrounded by the people he loves. She’s the ache in Stiles’ bones when he’s pushed to the limit and when the panic begins to set it, hers is the face he sees when he closes his eyes.

He is the mixture of two people who gave them their best and worst parts. Stiles faintly wonders if he studied Derek hard enough if he’d catch a flash of Mrs. Hale’s smile or Mr. Hale’s laugh lines.

Stiles looks around the room and feels affection rush through his body as his eyes settle on his friends – his family that he had fought for without knowing it. This must have been how she felt every morning as his peals of laughter filled the kitchen when his dad spun him around like he was a superhero without a cape.

It feels a little like peace and a lot like love and when Stiles turns to kiss Derek, he does his best to push the sensation through his lips. He pulls back and lays his forehead against Derek’s, eyes closed and lips upturned in a smile he stole from her years ago.

“Me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope we learn more about Mama Stilinski in season three. Just like I need to know about the Hale family before the fire, I need to know about the Stilinski's before her death. I'm also curious if anyone got the references I left in Stiles' dream. It's a nice little hat tip to an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer called "Restless" It is quite possible I will make many references to many different things in my writing. I'm just awesome like that.


End file.
